After flipping Grayscale’s GBTC after a $102 million inflow on Tuesday, BlackRock’s spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) is now the largest product of its kind.
As of Wednesday morning, according to its product page, IBIT had around $20 billion worth of bitcoin. As of Tuesday, GBTC’s page indicates that it has $19.7 billion after $105 million was taken out. A total of $16.5 billion has been invested in IBIT and $17 billion has been taken out of the Grayscale fund since it launched in January.
BlackRock announced on Tuesday that it had included the bitcoin ETF in its first-quarter income and bond-focused ETFs. IBIT is held by the company’s Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (BSIIX) for more than $3.5 million, and its Strategic Global Bond Fund (MAWIX) for $485,000. A recent uptick in buying activity for IBIT was accompanied by optimism for both bitcoin and the larger cryptocurrency market.
Following the approval of ether (ETH) ETFs for listing and the resurgence of support for cryptocurrency among US political parties, the bulls gained traction. This contributed to signalling a sharp change in the IBIT, which had minimal or even negative inflows prior to May 15 and experienced its first day of outflows ever in April, which created a bearish atmosphere.
Last week, U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds reached a new record by holdings with more than 850,000 BTC in custody, surpassing the previous high of 845,000 BTC from early April.